Breast milk supplementation for preterm infants: Parental preferences and postdischarge lactation duration

Breast milk supplementation is frequently used to improve preterm infant gr owth and to achieve satisfactory intakes of minerals and vitamins. In the N orth American market there are commercial preparations: two powders and a l iquid. The nutritional data available suggest these products are similar an d their utilization is based on healthcare team choice. Parental perception about supplementation has not been previously evaluated although parental attitudes are known to impact on lactation success. The objectives of this paper are to determine parental preference and breastfeeding duration for v ery-low-birth-weight infants given commercial breast milk enrichment produc ts. The study design is a randomized clinical trial with parental interview s. Sixty-three families with 71 infants were enrolled. Parents expressed th eir preference for the addition of a powder over a liquid preparation (p < 0.01). Those mothers whose infants received the liquid enrichment had a sho rter lactation relative to their goal, compared with the mothers of the inf ants who received the powder (p = 0.017). Parents prefer a powder product f or breast milk supplementation and this choice positively impacts on the du ration of breastfeeding for very-low-birth-weight infants.